Week 7 - at the beach

Well my first run of the week was a hot one again.  80 degrees, 73 for the dew point . I ran my 4 miles at a much slower pace, about 10:45.  The day before I had some weird sort of stomach issue and a fever, but thankfully I was somewhat over it by Tuesday morning  After the 9 miler on Sunday, I somewhat was used to the hot temperature and humidity.

Stores along the beach road at 5:45 am







Picture from newly finished Corolla Greenway


















Wednesday was a longer run, it was similar weather conditions and I had 6 miles planned.  It went better than expected and I got to explore a different part of the beach path and take a few more pictures... 11:05 average pace which was fine because the heat is hard and I was still partially recovering from random stomach issue.

Water tower from Wednesday's run.  Nice path they have here...











Knee pulling weirdness started right after that.  I think a part of that was going in the ocean this week and the way that the pull of the waves effects a person's legs and calves.  So I didn't assume it was the running that did this to me. Decided to take off Thursday and do my last 4 miler on Friday.

Friday's run was the hottest yet.  It was 81 degrees already at 5:40am.  Decided to try running a short distance up to the walkup for the beach and then take shoes off, run along the shoreline and go back.... As anyone knows, running along the beach in running shoes/avoiding chafing due to sand is harder than expected.  But it seemed to work out and the 4 miles went fast. 10:40 average pace.  Also took a few pictures of the experience.

Sand is a lot harder to run on logistically than one might think.

But I'm glad I caught the sunrise!

Due to travel I decided to postpone my long run until Sunday again.  I had 13 miles scheduled.

Ended up doing it Sunday morning.  Unfamiliar trail in some places.  Usually I'm not traveling so I wouldn't typically run on this trail... but it was what I needed to do so I got my 13 miles in there.  13.14 to be exact.  10:40 pace but that was just fine with me.  Humidity was a lot better in WV than it had been in NC last week.  And it was about 10 degrees cooler with no sun and mist on the mountains.  Elevation changes about 294 ft gain.  But I got it done.  Just in the nick of time to get over 100 miles for July 2016 (107.21 total when all was said and done).  First 100 mile month.

Week 8 is going to be possibly a 30 mile week! 5/6/4/15 long run...  This would be a first for me to get this many miles in a week.  Not sure if I'll do the 5 miler Monday night or Tuesday morning next week, but most likely in the AM....